The present invention relates to a rotary cutter for a rotary cutting apparatus, comprising a shaft and a mantle, the mantle having at least one cutting member.
The invention also relates to a rotary cutting apparatus comprising a frame part, an anvil and such a rotary cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,078 discloses in a discussion of the prior art (FIGS. 1-3) a one piece rotary cutter, which has to be removed from the frame when maintenance is needed. In order to allow the machine to be used during maintenance, a further rotary cutter including its static (stationary) shaft must always be accessible.
In order to overcome that problem, U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,078 suggests to divide the rotary cutter into a rotatable shaft and a mantle. The mantle is connected to the rotatable shaft by means of pneumatic pressure. A drawback with this kind of rotary cutter is that it is difficult to index the rotary cutter relative to the anvil. Another drawback is the lack of support of the rotary cutter on the axial side thereof opposite to the driven side.